Scheduled tasks for the connected home are deployed on Google Assistant to allow users to initiate actions at a specific time or for a certain duration.
Google Nest Audio
At CES 2020, a small handful of upcoming new features for Google Assistant were announced. Among them, there was a function called “Scheduled actions” that can be translated into French by actions or scheduled tasks. However, it took several months before seeing it finally deploy.
As a reminder, with this new ability, you can ask Google Assistant to trigger an action on one of the compatible connected objects in your home at a specific time or for a certain duration. For example :
- « Hey Google, turn on the light in five minutes »
- « Hey Google, turn on the lights at 7 a.m. »
Planning the connected home
A user on Reddit – spotted by Android Police – indicates that, recently, he can control the lights of his home with these planned actions. Convenient for Philips Hue bulbs.
On a technical support pageGoogle explains that orders can also be scheduled for another day over a seven-day period. The firm’s teams thus give a few examples:
- « Hey Google, turn on my coffee maker at 8 am tomorrow morning. »
- « Hey Google, get my sprinkler running in a week at 5 p.m. »
Google Home
In deployment
These Google Assistant commands for planned actions work as well from a smartphone as from a compatible connected speaker or a Smart Display. However, you will only be able to use them to perform tasks on your home automation objects.
This novelty is currently being rolled out for American users. Hopefully other countries will benefit from it as soon as possible.
Samsung has just announced the arrival of Google Assistant alongside Alexa and Bixby on some of its televisions. This mainly concerns models released in 2020.
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